Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 12:46:59 -0800 (PST)
From: John Bellamy Foster <Jfoster@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU>
Subject: Re:    overpopulation  &  Malthus
To: ppn@csf.colorado.edu
Message-id: <1.5.4.16.19981112125620.38873e02@oregon.uoregon.edu>
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Doug,

The passage you mention on "building houses near polluted bodies of water"
etc., although I doubt that it is to be found on the internet, is from Book
IV, Chapter V of the Second Essay.  This quote is usually taken out of
context and is not as reprehensible as it is usually thought to be, and not
anywhere as reprehensible as some of Malthus' other, more provocative
statements that produced a storm of criticism in his day. The logic of the
passage to which you refer was as follows: if you decide to promote early
marriages, and still want to avoid what everyone agrees is the worst of all
tragedies (i.e. famine), you should--if you are to be logical (given the
fact that population must always stay in equilibrium with food supply)
"court the return of the plague," etc.  (A key presumption of Malthus'
analysis was that moral restraint was not generally possible for the poor,
but only for the rich.)  This hardly compares to Malthus' other more
reprehensible statements such as his contention that infants are of
comparatively little value to society (in the context of whether relief
should be provided to prevent them from dying of starvation); his claim that
the poor had no right to relief; that the poor were not invited to the
"mighty feast" of the well to do; that the peasants should be "swept" from
the land, etc.  By the way, members of this list who are interested in
Malthus may pleased to know that the December issue of ORGANIZATION &
ENVIRONMENT includes a Bicentennial symposium on Malthus with an extensive
introduction to Malthus' population theory by me followed by articles by
William Catton, Herman Daly, Tom Athanasiou, Richard Wiltgen, Eric Ross and
Martha Gimenez.  The same issue also includes articles by David Korten,
Edward Herman, Kari Norgaard, Susan Roschke, Peter Grahame and others.
Those not familiar with ORGANIZATION & ENVIRONMENT can check out its Web site:

http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journals/usdetails/j0151.html

List members may be further interested to know that I have written a major
article on "Malthus' Essay on Population After 200 Years: A Marxian View"
which will appear in the December 1998 issue of MONTHLY REVIEW.

John Bellamy Foster

 
At 10:05 AM 11/11/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Ed Glaze III wrote:
>
>>I though that Angela and I could carry on out little debate
>>off the list but I guess I was mistaken.
>>
>>The basis of her recent Malthus message was evidently
>>to counter the links I gave her for publications that had
>>special issues on Malthus. Here are a few URLs for
>>online information. The other links are shown in my
>>message to Angela below.
>
>Do any of these links contain the bit where Malthus recommended building
>houses for the poor near polluted bodies of water, so they die earlier? I
>believe this has been suppressed in subsequent editions of his masterpiece.
>
>Doug
>
>
>
>